Photo by Emma Delk Vince Gianangeli celebrates his Belmont County commission primary win with family, friends and supporters at the Sons of Italy Belalire lodge.

T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA
Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton poses with his wife, Stacey, and son, John, after winning the primary election for the nomination to retain his seat on the board Tuesday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Incumbent Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton of St. Clairsville successfully defended the nomination for his seat against Republican Shaun Moran of St. Clairsville while incumbent Commissioner Josh Meyer of Bellaire lost to Vince Gianangeli of Colerain for the GOP nomination to that seat.

Dutton took the seat with 5,103 votes to Moran’s 3,393 votes. Gianangeli won with 4,354 votes to Meyer’s 4,274 votes, according to unofficial vote totals from the Belmont County Board of Elections.

Dutton thanked Belmont County residents for their continued support, noting that he works “extremely hard every day and takes the job extremely seriously.”

“I try to use my experience, both from Capitol Hill and in the energy industry, to make our communities a better place,” Dutton said. “I am always thinking about the next generation coming. For all our decisions I try to look 10, 15 and 20 years into the future for their impact, not just a few weeks away.”

Dutton wants to continue the progress he has made on infrastructure in the county, which he said will lead to future economic development opportunities.

“We’ve made a lot of progress over the last few years and want to see that work continue on for the next few,” said Dutton. “We have a lot of projects in the queue this year.”

These projects include more sewer upgrades for 2024, continuing broadband expansion and other work with the county engineer.

“All of those things are laying some fantastic groundwork moving forward,” Dutton noted.

Dutton also drew attention to the commissioners securing a $72 million grant from Ohio’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program, which he noted was the largest water and sewer grant project in the history of the state of Ohio’s USDA Rural Development program.

“That project is the largest Belmont County infrastructure project in its history,” said the Republican. “That’s in addition to the water plant that’s now completed, which was about $30 million.”

Dutton also wants to “turn the corner” for Belmont County regarding aging infrastructure, which he noted is as much a problem for the Ohio Valley as for the rest of the country.

“We were in a very difficult position a few years ago, but I feel like we’re making tremendous strides in Belmont County regarding water and sewer,” Dutton added.

Dutton faced off against newcomer to local politics Moran, who campaigned on finding out “what’s next” for the county regarding future growth. Moran highlighted the county’s manufacturing past and the need to plan for future growth and build facilities to “entice businesses that have left Belmont County.”

While celebrating his win at the Sons of Italy Bellaire Lodge, Gianangeli credited his door-to-door campaigning and receiving endorsements from local animal groups and unions for his victory.

“This was one of those grassroots campaigns that you hear people talk about,” Gianangeli said. “I’ve always run a clean campaign, and I ran a clean campaign this time. I’m very proud of my campaign and the people that helped me.”

As a commissioner, Gianangeli said he plans to work “very hard and very diligently” for Belmont County residents.

“The county commissioners are at the top of the organizational chart of the county, but there’s a group of people that are above the county commissioners, and that’s the residents of Belmont County,” Gianangeli noted. “They are our employer, and I’m going to work very hard for the residents of Belmont County.”

Gianangeli plans to focus on economic development, particularly on retaining young graduates. To keep residents in the county, Gianangeli wants to work with the port authority and the Community Improvement Corp. to bring jobs and revenue to the area.

The standard operating procedure of the Belmont County Animal Shelter is another matter Gianangeli wants to address. The Republican plans to investigate allegations of 26 dogs being euthanized at the shelter in 2023. He noted that 25 of those dogs were euthanized “with no reason provided” at the no-kill facility.

“There has to be a reason for a dog to be euthanized,” Gianangeli said. “We’re a no-kill shelter, so to me no kill means no kill. We need to market these dogs better so that we can get adoptive families for those dogs.”

Gianangeli wants to create an oversight committee for the shelter whose members will review and investigate the facility. He explained the five-member board would consist of a veterinarian, an auditor’s office employee and three community members who are “animal lovers.”

Gianangeli also drew attention to his experience in finance and accounting being an asset for him as commissioner, in addition to years of public service at the state, county, municipal and township levels of government.

“I have a lot of background in reviewing, preparing and analyzing budgets,” Gianangeli said. “The county commissioners are responsible for the annual budget, and I bring a lot to the table.”

With two terms under his belt as commissioner, Meyer ran to continue the work the commissioners had started.

The biggest challenge Meyer wanted to tackle for Belmont County if reelected was continuing upgrades to the county water and sewer system. He outlined that major updates had already been made using a USDA $74 million grant, and the commissioners had “multiple projects” lined up in the near future to continue to improve and upgrade the system.